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My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner
page 312 of 712 (43%)
Columbus Overture, the work composed in my early days at
Magdeburg. I adopted the latter course.

When I went to fetch the score of this composition from
Ilabeneck, who had it stored among the archives of the
Conservatoire, he warned me somewhat dryly, though not without
kindness, of the danger of presenting this work to the Parisian
public, as, to use his own words, it was too 'vague.' One great
objection was the difficulty of finding capable musicians for the
six cornets required, as the music for this instrument, so
skilfully played in Germany, could hardly, if ever, be
satisfactorily executed in Paris. Herr Schlitz, the corrector of
my 'Suites' for Cornet a piston, offered his assistance. I was
compelled to reduce my six cornets to four, and he told me that
only two of these could be relied on.

As a matter of fact, the attempts made at the rehearsal to
produce those very passages on which the effect of my work
chiefly depended were very discouraging. Not once were the soft
high notes played but they were flat or altogether wrong. In
addition to this, as I was not going to be allowed to conduct the
work myself, I had to rely upon a conductor who, as I was well
aware, had fully convinced himself that my composition was the
most utter rubbish--an opinion that seemed to be shared by the
whole orchestra. Berlioz, who was present at the rehearsal,
remained silent throughout. He gave me no encouragement, though
he did not dissuade me. He merely said afterwards, with a weary
smile, 'that it was very difficult to get on in Paris.'

On the night of the performance (4th February 1841) the audience,
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